This blog is dedicated to sharing the concept that our hands are essential to learning- that we engage the world and its wonders, sensing and creating primarily through the agency of our hands. We abandon our children to education in boredom and intellectual escapism by failing to engage their hands in learning and making.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

I am finished with the Woodworkers Showcase and on my way home. I had a great time and want to thank those who made my part in the weekend possible, those who bought my books and DVD and those who listened so attentively and appreciatively to my presentations. This next week will be a busy one. April 10-13, I am to be a presenter at the CODA (Craft Organization Development Association) meeting in Little Rock. Most of the major craft organizations and craft schools are members of CODA, and I will have an opportunity to present the Wisdom of the Hands program and make a strong pitch for a united effort to engage artists and craftspeople in general education. It will take a national movement to set the ball rolling.

Reuben Rajala wrote to suggest a new book reviewed in the New York Times which he said would be right up my alley. THE CRAFTSMAN by Richard Sennett. Yale University Press. $27.50

"The hand is the window on to the mind," Immanuel Kant wrote, and Sennett asks that we not pass through that window until we have adequately studied the hand."

"The material world speaks back to us constantly, by its resistance, by its ambiguity, by the way it changes as circumstances change, and the enlightened are those able to enter into this dialogue and, by so doing, come to develop an "intelligent hand."

In the photo above, taken at Woodworkers Showcase, you see Joshua Grossbohlin helping younger (and older) children in their first experience with hammer and nails. I really enjoyed getting to know Jesse, Joshua and their dad, John.

About Me

I have been a self-employed woodworker in Eureka Springs, Arkansas since 1976. I live with my wife Jean on a wooded hillside overlooking our beautiful historic community.
In addition to work in my wood shop, I teach children at the Clear Spring School in a program called "The Wisdom of the Hands." My 10th book, Tiny Boxes by Taunton Press in November 2016. I also write for Fine Woodworking and other woodworking magazines.
My resume can be downloaded at
www.dougstowe.com/resume.doc